Pages

Tips to become a succesful book blogger

No one has become a superstar blogger overnight.Recognition in blogosphere takes time and there are no short cuts for achieving instant success as a blogger.Read like there is no tomorrow and pen down your sincere thoughts in a lucid, organised and unpretentious manner.Your work will definitely get its due.

Blogadda-Quikr Shopping Fiesta: My Experience

It was like a slap on my face.Thankfully Arun was not there with me to witness by embarassement. I was all set to call him when some random piece of paper with a phone number written on it from my pocket caught my attention.

Book Review:Salvation Of a Saint

On the whole,’The Salvation Of Saint’ is a decent thriller.It may not be as racy as ‘The Devotion of Suspect X’,but still it’s a pretty good one.

Interview with Doctor-turned- Writer Deepal Kripal

Earlier this week,we chatted with Doctor-turned-Author,Deepak Kripal.He has authored 'The Devil's Tale:An impossible journey',published by Leadstart Publishers.In this candid interview,he tells us about his debut work,future plans,his journey as a writer and his other interests in life.

Private India: Book Review

On the whole,'Private India' by James Patterson and Ashwin Sanghi is a strictly average work.

May 31, 2014

The Unreal Elections By C.S.Krishna & Karthik Lakshman

Title-The Unreal Elections
Publisher-Penguin India
Year-2014
Genre-Satire/Humour
Pages-298
Price-250 INR

            Most of you must be aware of the existence of a political satire website called 'the unreal times'.(If you aren't,please visit the website at the earliest-believe me,it's awesomely awesome!)This election season those (brutally wicked)brains behind it have come up with yet another really amusing idea (or a set of ideas) called as 'the unreal elections'.(Well,you can't really call it a 'proper' literary piece of work because what the writers have actually done is penning down satirical backstories for the many political incidents that made headlines in run up to the General Elections of 2014).

           The book has different sections punctuated by Ravishastri cricket quotes and has almost all the 'real'(life) characters from the Great Indian Political Circus making an appearance in the narrative.The book opens with the intro of nautanki Kejriwal through a scene which is a hilarious take on the opening scene of the iconic 'The Godfather'.Very soon,we are introduced to the principal characters one by one- RaGa:the rich spoilt prince who can't even write a half-decent line without the aid of his Dad's longtime associates,the Gujarati Lion and his Liuetenant,the Former diplomat (Tharoor) who uses extremely complicated sentences to prove his point and the Diggie Rajas and the Shindes who are eternally loyal to the 'first family'.The narrative is peppered with funny Facebook posts(imaginary ones) and one on one conversations which are amusing at times.

          On the downside,towards the end I felt that the writers lost focus to an extend with the narrative becoming hazy and the jokes falling flat one after the other.There are also a couple of below the belt jokes which could have been done away with.Another issue I have with this book is it's length.At 298 pages,'the unreal elections' is overtly overlong by atleast a fifty pages and better editing could have made it tighter and less monotonous. 

Verdict-On the whole,'The Unreal Elections' is an okay read.I'm giving it a three out of five.

-nikhimenon

Notes on Mice in men by Anirban Bose


             A couple of years back,I got a chance to read Bose's debut novel,'Bombay Rains,Bombay Girls'- a coming of age story of a group of medical students.Frankly speaking,I didn't like that book very much as I had found it only mildly amusing.So when I chanced upon the author's second work('Mice in Men') in the local Landmark's Book store,I was a bit apprehensive initially but still decided to give it a try as I have a thing for well crafted works of short fiction.

                 'Mice in Men' is an anthology of short stories set in contemporary India.Most of the tales have a medical background(which is understandable as the writer is a doctor by profession) and in one way or other portray the joys of being in the medical profession.The writer has made sure that all the medical terms used in the stories are explained in a very simple manner without resorting to extremely complicated medical jargons.I particularly liked the story of the young doctor('The Magic of Medicine') who is in a dilemma to treat the 'illegal immigrant' who is fighting for his life.As in the case of any other anthology,'Mice In Men' also packs in a couple of bland and even mundane short works('The temptation of fate') of fiction.The writer has a good attention to detail but the un-necessary detailing backfires atleast in a few occasions-('The faithfulness of traits').On the other hand,I also felt some stories to be a bit confusing and lacking clarity('Stockholm syndrome'-well, it is obviously a well written piece but the author seems to have overlooked a couple of loose ends in the narrative).

          'Mice in Men' is undoubtedly a better work when compared to the writer's debut  'Bombay Rains,Bombay Girls'.If you have a penchant for short tales of fiction,you can definitely give it a try.

Verdict-A good read.I'm giving it a three out of five.

-nikhimenon